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Introduction to A Common Word Between Us and You


"A Common Word" Accomplishments 2007 - 2009  
Frequently Asked Questions

‘The appearance of the A Common Word [Open Letter] of 2007 was a landmark in Muslim-Christian relations and it has a unique role in stimulating a discussion at the deepest level across the world.’

— His Grace Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, 2010

‘[T]he more recent A Common Word letter …. echoed a theme consonant with my first encyclical: the unbreakable bond between love of God and love of neighbor, and the fundamental contradiction of resorting to violence or exclusion in the name of God (cf. Deus Caritas Est, 16)’.

— His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI,
May 9th 2009, at the King Hussein Mosque in Amman, Jordan

Major Common Word Events:
April 08, 2012
Launch of the Malaysian edition of Lejla Demiri's book 'A Common Word: Text and Reflections: A Resource for Parishes and Mosques'
November 21-23, 2011
Second Catholic-Muslim Forum
November 1-4, 2010
World Council of Churches
October 20, 2010
H.R.H. Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad delivers King's World Interfaith Harmony Week proposal at UN
September 26, 2010
King proposes World Interfaith Harmony Week at the UN
September 24-25, 2010
'Islam, Christianity and the Environment' Symposium Invites Muslim and Christian Scholars to Amman, Jordan
October 6–8, 2009
Georgetown University and the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding with the Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought will host the fourth major Common Word conference. A Common Word Between Us and You: A Global Agenda for Change.
May 08-11, 2009
Text of H.H.Pope Benedict XVI's Speech at the King Hussein State Mosque, Saturday May 9th, 2009

Video of H.H.Pope Benedict XVI's Speech at the King Hussein State Mosque, Saturday May 9th, 2009

Text of H.R.H. Prince Ghazi's Speech at the King Hussein State Mosque, Saturday May 9th, 2009

Video of H.R.H. Prince Ghazi's Speech at the King Hussein State Mosque, Saturday May 9th, 2009

Pope Benedict XVI Visits Jordan
'Following-up with A Common Word'
April 20, 2009
 Seeking Muslim, Christian and Jewish Wisdom in the Fifteenth, Twenty-first and Fifty-eighth centuries:
A Muscat Manifesto
By Prof. David F. Ford,
March 26-27, 2009
 The 2009 Rudolph C. Barnes Sr. Symposium
Theory and Application of
"A Common Word"
February 20, 2009
 Fisher Lecture—Catholic Chaplaincy
 Cambridge University
David Burrell, C.S.C.
February, 2009
 A Common Word - Dossier
Islamica Magazine
Issue 21
November 22, 2008
"A Common Word" wins Germanys Eugen Biser award
November 4-6, 2008
First Seminar of the Catholic-Muslim Forum, Rome
November 1, 2008
Over 460 Islamic organizations and associations declare support for "A Common Word"
October 15, 2008
A Common Word Conference with The Archbishop of Canterbury and Cambridge University
July 24-31, 2008
Yale Workshop and Conference on A Common Word
July 14, 2008
Archbishop of Canterbury, detailed response to A Common Word
March 06, 2008
Muslims and The Vatican agree to a new World Muslim-Catholic Forum based on A Common Word
December 23, 2007
A Muslim Message of Thanks and of Christmas Greetings
Additional Signatures
November 18, 2007
Response of over 300 leading Christian scholars to A Common Word
On October 13th 2006, one month to the day after Pope Benedict XVI's Regensburg address of September 13th 2006, 38 Islamic authorities and scholars from around the world, representing all denominations and schools of thought, joined together to deliver an answer to the Pope in the spirit of open intellectual exchange and mutual understanding. In their Open Letter to the Pope (see english.pdf), for the first time in recent history, Muslim scholars from every branch of Islam spoke with one voice about the true teachings of Islam.

Exactly one year after that letter, on October 13th 2007 Muslims expanded their message. In A Common Word Between Us and You, 138 Muslim scholars, clerics and intellectuals have unanimously come together for the first time since the days of the Prophet r to declare the common ground between Christianity and Islam. Like the Open Letter, the signatories to this message come from every denomination and school of thought in Islam. Every major Islamic country or region in the world is represented in this message, which is addressed to the leaders of all the world's churches, and indeed to all Christians everywhere.

The final form of the letter was presented at a conference in September 2007 held under the theme of "Love in the Quran," by the Royal Academy of The Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought in Jordan, under the Patronage of H.M. King Abdullah II. Indeed, the most fundamental common ground between Islam and Christianity, and the best basis for future dialogue and understanding, is the love of God and the love of the neighbor.

Never before have Muslims delivered this kind of definitive consensus statement on Christianity. Rather than engage in polemic, the signatories have adopted the traditional and mainstream Islamic position of respecting the Christian scripture and calling Christians to be more, not less, faithful to it.

It is hoped that this document will provide a common constitution for the many worthy organizations and individuals who are carrying out interfaith dialogue all over the world. Often these groups are unaware of each other, and duplicate each other's efforts. Not only can A Common Word Between Us give them a starting point for cooperation and worldwide co-ordination, but it does so on the most solid theological ground possible: the teachings of the Qu'ran and the Prophet r, and the commandments described by Jesus Christ u in the Bible. Thus despite their differences, Islam and Christianity not only share the same Divine Origin and the same Abrahamic heritage, but the same two greatest commandments.